Apple is no longer China’s best-selling smartphone maker. The tech giant has lost its top spot and now lags behind Chinese companies Vivo, Huawei, and Honor. This is especially bad for Tim Cook, who signed a secret $275 billion agreement with the Communist government to “cooperate and grow with Chinese companies to achieve mutual benefits and win-win situations.”
Apple, which became China’s best-selling smartphone for the first time in 2023, has lost its position as China’s best-selling smartphone maker, according to a study by Counterpoint Research. report By Business Insider. According to the market research firm, the company’s iPhone sales in China fell 24% in the first six weeks of 2024.
Apple CEO Tim Cook waves as he arrives at an economic summit held for the China Development Forum in Beijing, March 23, 2019. (NG HAN GUAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Xi Jinping waves as he leaves after a press conference with members of the new Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
Apple’s sales decline means the iPhone has lost the title of China’s best-selling smartphone, which it first won last year. In 2023, Apple had a 19% market share in China, which has since fallen to 15.7%.
Currently, the Chinese company Vivo tops the list as the best-selling smartphone manufacturer in China. Chinese companies Huawei and Honor follow Vivo in second and third place, respectively, while Apple follows in fourth place.
Meng Meng Zhang, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, said of Apple’s iPhone, “It mainly faces tough competition from a resurgent Huawei in the high-end category, while at the same time facing aggressive pricing from OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi and others. I was squeezed in the middle with the settings.” .
Notably, smartphone sales in China are also down 7% overall compared to the same period in 2023.
This isn’t the only problem Apple has faced in China recently.
Business Insider reported in January that Chinese chipmakers developed plans to create a chip production line to supply processors to local smartphone makers. The move will be a blow to Apple, as strict export restrictions have been an advantage for the company.
There is also reportedly a general shift towards Chinese companies in China, which may explain some of Apple’s decline in the communist regime.
This is an unwelcome development for Tim Cook’s Apple, which signed a $275 billion deal with the Chinese government in 2016.
As Breitbart News reported:
The Information reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook signed a deal worth $275 billion with China in 2016 to prevent restrictions on its business there. As part of the deal, Apple agreed to help Chinese companies build “cutting-edge manufacturing technology” and invest “billions of dollars” in the country. The five-year deal was intended to appease Chinese government officials who felt Apple wasn’t investing enough in the Chinese economy.
Chinese President Xi Jinping votes during the closing ceremony of the 19th Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on October 24, 2017. (Zhang Lintao/Getty Images)
In 2016, Cook lobbied Chinese government officials about regulations that could threaten Apple services such as the App Store, Apple Pay and iCloud. Mr. Cook signed the deal with China during one of his several visits to the country that year, after domestic iPhone sales slowed due to actions taken by Chinese regulators.
The memo of understanding was created by Apple’s China political affairs team in collaboration with the China National Development and Reform Commission to improve relations between Apple and China’s leaders. Apple executives also made meeting with Chinese government officials a priority after 2016 regulations affected books and movies on iTunes.
Breitbart News will continue to report on Apple’s struggles in China.
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